While Megadeth guitarist, vocalist, and key songwriter Dave Mustaine recently made a clean break from the band he lead for decades, guitarist Al Pitrelli is optimistic about the long term future of Megadeth. He believes that the long strings of tour dates, studio sessions, and changes in the band's label and management exhausted them all.

While Mustaine has been given a year to recover from his injury it seems more likely that the mental exhaustion and time away from his family and life outside the band had more of an impact on his decision to leave.

TPRS.com: If Dave does decide to return to Megadeth, do you think that he will be able to play again?

Al Pitrelli: I don't think that's an issue. I mean, you've got athletes that undergo microscopic surgery, who a couple weeks later, come back and do their thing. I think that with the proper treatment and the proper care, Dave is going to be in pretty good shape.

TPRS.com: From what the press release said, it seems like it will be sometime before he recovers from the injury?

AP: Well, the doctor said at least a year. So that is a long time, since you figure he's out of commission for a year, and then by the time he gets his chops back to where they're supposed to be, you know that could be another six months, who knows. But, in the meantime, I think maybe if he was to write some songs or do something like that, that might not be a bad idea.

TPRS.com: If Mustaine doesn't return, is there any new material written that hasn't been released?

AP: The only thing that we recorded was the live album, and I'm pretty sure that everything from those two shows in one way or another made it onto the final product.

TPRS.com: There have been many rumors that members of Megadeth plan to continue the band without him, is there any truth to that?

AP: We'll I don't know if its a matter of continuing on without him, its certainly a matter of well, we're not in any position to want to retire.

Pitrelli says that he speaks to David Ellefson and Jimmy DeGrasso, at least once a day or every other day, and there have been discussions of working together with another singer and starting something new, but it wouldn't be Megadeth...

AP: I always want to be careful in the wording of that. It's not like Megadeth is going to find a replacement for Dave Mustaine - that would be an impossibility - Dave Mustaine is Megadeth. But, the three of us being pretty decent musicians and not over the hill just yet, would like to find a singer or somebody to go out and write with and just do something cool.

TPRS.com: Do you think Sanctuary would support something like that?

AP: I'm pretty sure that Sanctuary would support it. I would hope so. This isn't something that we've spoke to them about yet, because it would be kind of like putting the cart before the horse... obviously Sanctuary would be our first choice, because we love the label and they're a great bunch of guys. They take great care of us in Megadeth. We'd like to do business with them post Megadeth.

TPRS.com: Getting on to Savatage, it wasn't really a surprise to see that you decided to get back into the band after what happened with Megadeth.

AP: I never really left Savatage to be completely honest. I mean obviously musically or professionally I wasn't really in the band, because I was with Megadeth but you know my heart was never that far away from the camp. I had played on the Poets and Madmen album. I am still the musical director for Trans Siberian Orchestra. So, I never left the camp. It was just like, "OK, I can't perform with Savatage right now, because that's not going to work". I was looking forward very much, regardless, of doing another record with them at some point, and now I can put my name on the record and my picture on the record. It's not a surprise, it was just like "that makes sense, let's go". In this world there's not too many things I can do other than play guitar.

TPRS.com: What are the plans with Savatage right now, will we see another tour soon?

AP: It's time to make another record. I know there's people starting to write songs; Jon Oliva's coming back to New York in the near future; and Paul O' Neill is kind of just excited that I'm going to be involved in the writing process again. It's going to be a lot of fun. There's no time frame... We're just trying to make the best Savatage record of all time.

TPRS.com: Do you think we'll see this Savatage record before another TSO record?

AP: I don't know, we're actually working on another TSO record as we speak as well. It's kind of neat we've got both camps up and running. I don't know which is going to come out first. I don't know which will be done first. I'm not sure anybody is really concerned with a schedule. I just think everybody just wants to make the best possible records that can be made at this point. TSO's on autopilot with the two Christmas records and the Beethoven record being out and selling every year and those tours becoming more and more monstrous each year, we don't have to rush whatsoever.

TPRS.com: You just have to be ready for Christmas.

AP: I saw the tour dates last night, I was having supper with my wife and the TSO tour manager. I met him after soundcheck at the Sebastian show, and he showed me the tour dates. It's all arenas starting a week before Thanksgiving and ending the day before New Year's Eve again.

TPRS.com: Are you going to be on the West or the East?

AP: Yeah, I'm heading up the West Coast this year as I did last year.

TPRS.com: I know that Richie Scarlet wasn't available, but how did you end up working with Sebastian Bach on the Forever Wild Tour?

AP: Well, Paul Crook and I had been friends for a couple of years. Paul was in Anthrax, when Anthrax and Megadeth were opening for Motley... Sebastian had seen me play with Widowmaker, and he was a big Widowmaker fan. And, obviously he was a huge Megadeth fan. So, they called me up and said, "You want to do like half a dozen local shows?" "Yeah, what the hell." [Al replied]. And that was pretty much that, it wasn't a big process. In the day, I was a huge Skid Row fan, and I've been keeping my eye on what Sebastian's been up to. I mean between his Broadway things and his solo records, he's just an incredibly talented person.

TPRS.com: I thought the Broadway arrangements were great live, did you have any part in that?

AP: No, most of that was Paul Crook. If he's playing the clean guitar stuff, I just try to give it a little extra kick on the bottom, heavier guitars, kind of how Queen would have interpreted those... It was just great fun across the board.

TPRS.com: So, do you think you would ever work with him again?

AP: I would love to if he calls me... We said goodbye and I said "I'm going home, give me a call and let me know what's going on..." Pretty much with the exception of the possibility of what's going to go on with Savatage and certainly touring with TSO, I've pretty much resigned from touring the world. I'm going to pretty much stay home with my wife and see my children on weekends and enjoy working here full-time.

TPRS.com: Is there anything else you want to talk about? I think we've pretty much covered it.

AP: Yeah, pretty much I mean the only other thing... What I've been working on that I'm really proud of, which is about as far away from rock and metal as you can get, is my wife [Jane's] CD, which you can kind of check out on the Web site www.o2lmusic.com. And, it's something that I've been producing with her, and I'm actively trying to get her a deal with that. She's a jingle composer, she writes for TV commercials, and she's probably the most brilliant composer I've ever come across, needless to say, I married her. But, that's something that I'm really looking forward to working on full-time with her now that I'm home.